Transformers Reviews and Opinions

[Lycus]

If you aren't going into this film expecting a big ol' hunk of gouda, there's something wrong with you. It's not cheesy for the same reasons as the animated film - budgetary constraints - obviously, and that may be the crux. This new film is topped with multiple kinds of cheese.

For those unfamiliar with the franchise (dragged out by the kids, or just looking for 'splody goodness), the whole idea of giant robots with such distinct personalities is gonna get to them.

For those unfamiliar with Generation One, a whole heaping load of nudge-nudge-wink-wink moments are just going to seem like bad writing.

For the 'true believers', well, you've already seen most of the bad in all the advertising. Warning! There is a lot of focus on the 'human element' in the film - if this is an issue, maybe have some second thoughts.

For general viewers, mass product placement, slow-mo action*, a particularly cheesy bit of 'acting' by Jazz as he is introduced, and a horribly 'funny' scene with the bots at the Witwicky home.

*I would have preferred quite a bit more of this actually - the action scenes are very busy and can sometimes be hard to follow, especially when they take up the whole screen.

As to other general issues:
It might have been nice if they could have made some of the bots more visually distinct from one another, especially the Decepticons.
There is quite a bit of sexual innuendo, but I'm pretty sure 'innuendo' is the wrong word - What's the opposite of Innuendo? And some toilet humor as well.
The main adversarial human character was played for humor, but really needed to be a serious player.
Don't you think the whole thing about extra scenes during and after the credits has run it's course? I only stayed as far as the[spoiler]Starscream one.[/spoiler]

If you are a G1 fan who hasn't already had their childhood raped by this, you may well like it for all the references. Everyone else, just think of it as giant robots beating the crap out of each other, with an underlying alien invasion story.

Buffy fans - watch out for Tom Lenk (Andrew) in a bit part.

[MJB]

Buffy fans - watch out for Tom Lenk (Andrew) in a bit part.

I had already noticed Tom's cameo in the TV trailers.

-MJB

[Lycus]

Just a note, all the reviews I've come across have been extremely positive, so I probably went overboard in my attempts to be 'fair and balanced'. I did really, really, really, (really) like this movie. It was good.

[Jakew]

I don't like big loud Hollywood movies and I'm only familiar with Transformers because, like most kids, I watched the cartoon. To my suprise, I really enjoyed this film. Sure it was big, dumb and crude, but it had a lot of energy, moved along at a good pace and the action was really well choreographed.

When the film ended, I was genuinely amazed that I had been entertained by a film about giant toys for 2 hours plus!

On the downside:

The movie has a really appalling amount of product placement ... Ebay, General Motors, The Strokes even Furby of all things! Very unsubtle.

:spoiler: :spoiler: :spoiler:

Also, Jazz (my childhood favourite) has a really poor showing in this film.

[detourne_me]

It was one of the best blockbusters i've ever seen!
it did its job very well as an incredibly complex, engaging and spectacular advertisement for a WIDE range of products,  Rise of the silver surfer served product placement up with cheese (delicious by the way), while transformers does it with panache.

i really enjoyed the comedy bits,  and the human element was pretty good.   since i'm really only a G1 fan,  thats when i grew up,  i loved the characters they used, and i thought that the way how the robots moved really allowed for the redesigns to actually look like the original counterparts.

My one friend told me that the movie made him proud to be an american,  you can see why,  but this movie isn't without its political leanings.

Loud Explosive and full of action,   i don't know how this blockbuster can be topped.  but i still have to see die hard.

[BatWing]

u guys already saw it?
i haven't yet
it says july 3rd

[BentonGrey]

I'll be going to see this.......and I REALLY want to like it because I love the characters so much, but I am quite afraid.

[detourne_me]

i live in asia,  all big movies will probably be released here first to cut down on piracy. 5 out of thje 8 screens were playing transformers when i went on the weekend.   

[Jakew]

I'm in Australia ... I'm not sure who the film's release schedule works.

Also, Benton ... keep your expectations for the film low. I had zero expectations and enjoyed it quite a bit. I mean, it has giant robots having slow-mo John Woo-style two-gun shoot-outs in crowded city streets ... absolutely ridiculous, but entertaining.

[Lycus]

Movies only open on Thursdays here, that combined with school holidays starting on the 2nd, means biggest profit is from opening June 28.

Heard it doesn't open till end of July in England though. Bad luck if that's true.

[Jakew]

I should be a movie reviewer.


2 July 2007 imdb.com
Movie Reviews: 'Transformers'


Michael Bay's Transformers enters an already crowded movie marketplace in many cities today (Monday) in advance of an "official" opening on Tuesday. By and large, it's attracting positive reviews. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times describes the movie as "goofy fun with a lot of stuff that blows up real good, and it has the grace not only to realize how preposterous it is, but to make that into an asset." Manohla Dargis in the New York Times remarks that the movie seems to be "designed as the ultimate in shock-and-awe entertainment." It is, she adds, "part car commercial, part military recruitment ad, a bumper-to-bumper pileup of big cars, big guns and, as befits its recently weaned target demographic, big breasts." Some critics seem amazed by their own enjoyment of the film. For example, Desson Thomson writes in the Washington Post: "Before you dismiss this movie as toy porn for overgrown boys (not that there's anything wrong with that), consider this: Never was this goofy rapture explored with more fun. For the non-Transformer heads among us, who couldn't tell an Autobot from a Decepticon, it's a wonderfully playful experience." And Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel puts it this way: "We knew it would be dumb. But we had no idea it would be so much dumb fun." Lou Lumenick interrupts his review of the movie in the New York Post to remark: "A box-office analyst whom I respect predicts Transformers will be the year's top-grossing flick. If the enthusiastic response I saw at a screening the other night is any indication, predominately male audiences will flock to see some of Hollywood's most lavish special effects ever, climaxing in a battle that destroys much of downtown Los Angeles."

[GogglesPizanno]

OK Im gonna voice the minority here...
It was Dumb dumb dumb.

I realize people are latching onto the cheese factor as part of the fun (John Turturro nailed it better than anyone else did), but the tone of film the was all over the map. It was like 4 different movies all being mashed together into one, but none of them worked. Its an action blockbuster, Its a slapstick comedy, its a romance, Its a government thriller...its all of them, and yet somehow none of them.

When I come out of a movie about Transforming giant robots attacking earth, and the only part i really cared about was the storyline about a unpopular kid getting his first car and trying to land the hot girl...well houston we have a problem.

Regardless of my issues with the movie, the CGI was really impressive from a purely CGI standpoint, it was just overly complicated and often hard to follow the action.

[Verfall]

Saw it tonight. I couldn't stop smiling with childlike glee for an hour after the movie ended. It was just so awesome. Felt like I was 5 all over again and had just seen the first movie. Here's hoping it makes more money than the crap that was Spidey 3.

[BentonGrey]

I will never understand the hatred for Spidey 3..............

[lugaru]

I will never understand the hatred for Spidey 3..............

fanboy stampeed, it makes them feel secure.

[Verfall]

I will never understand the hatred for Spidey 3..............

fanboy stampeed, it makes them feel secure.

Fanboy? Hardly. Never purchased a spidey comic in my life. Hell, spud calls me a Venom fanboy, yet I can count on one hand the number of Venom comics I bought in my lifetime. It was one.

Spidey 3 was hyped as the "biggest thing evar!!11!1" and instead, it was a crammed together piece of crap that reached nothing near what was expected of it. I expected the best story of the series, instead I got a medicore movie that would have been barely worth grabbing a torrent of until it had long been released on DVD. Oh sure, it made a fortune, but that was just proof of how great of a hype machine Sony can throw out there. People expected something better than Spidey 2. Instead they got something more on par with the Fantastic Four movies.

I went into Transformers fearing the worse. Sure the previews made it look pretty, and I've been a Transformers fan since I was a toddler, but Michael Bay usually nullifies any sort of hope when it comes to a movie. I still wanna kick him in the jimmies for the Doolittle raid at the end of Pearl Harbor. But lo and behold, the movie not only surpassed my meagre expectations, it damn well blew them out of the water. I've watched the original series recently. What was great when I was 6 isn't so great when you're in your 20's. I still love the original movie just for cheese and nostalgia alone. This movie delivered on the action, the cheese, the nostalgia, the special effects and lack of suck.

I got goosebumps during some scenes, laughed alot, and basically felt like I was a kid again. All Spidey 3 did was make me groan at the utter mess of it all.

[GogglesPizanno]

I got goosebumps during some scenes, laughed alot, and basically felt like I was a kid again. All Spidey 3 did was make me groan at the utter mess of it all.

Reverse Spidey 3 and Transformers.... and I almost agree  ;)

[style]

This was hands down the best Action movie I ever seen!

[Mr. Hamrick]

I enjoyed the movie no doubt about it.

Wound up liking Megan Fox in that role more than I thought I would.  Granted it was more the character than her but nevermind that.

:thumbup:  two thumbs up

[Podmark]

Just came back from seeing it with some friends. To be honest I'm not really sure if I liked it or not. There's alot of cheesiness but it's better than Spidey 3 in that regard. The graphics were pretty good, but the story was kinda weak. I probably would have enjoyed it more if there was less focus on the humans. Not that it was necessarily bad, I just prefer Transformers without humans involved.

It's definitly a Micheal Bay action movie.

The best part though? TOM LENK WAS IN IT!! YAY!!

[Figure Fan]

Saw Transformers. Loved Transformers. Go see it.

Also, understanding the utter dislike of Spider-Man 3 is simple. It was poorly done, overhyped, crammed together trash that started out well and just fell apart. I don't even care about what they changed or whatnot. The movie itself was just BAD.

[MJB]

I've been debating if I should wait for the DVD or spend $30+ to take the family to see this.

-MJB

[detourne_me]

if you did NOT religiously watch the 80s cartoon as a kid though you probably won't get all the subtle things thrown in for fans of the original and your enjoyment will not be as emphatic imo.

Soo true!  i was in a theatre of Koreans,  and when kid starts saying "more than meets the eye" i was laughing so hard, and nobody understood why.  they really laughed at the Japanese jokes though

MJB - i'd say it depends how old your kids are.  this is a really violent and LOUD movie,  but theres no blood and guts,  only lots of explosions.

[Lionheart]

I really enjoyed much of it, was totally disgusted with part. The Transformers of the 80s was always kid-friendly (you know, a cartoon based on toys kids play with). This movie isn't. For one, they went 'way too far with some of the gratuitous sexual innuendo (and more).

This was a movie with a tremendous amount of potential, but for some reason they chose to throw in junk that did nothing to advance the plot or characters. It's the "let's add raunch in to get the 13 rating and act like it's more 'mature' than a movie about toy robots" syndrome.

The Transformers cartoon is something I can sit down and watch with my daughter. I was hoping the movie would be family-friendly as well.

Maybe I'll get it off TV if they edit it. Otherwise, this was a one-shot movie for me.

[the_ultimate_evil]

could someone tell me something, i'm not a major transformers fan but is that annoying little rhyming git from the 80's movie in it

[crimsonquill]

could someone tell me something, i'm not a major transformers fan but is that annoying little rhyming git from the 80's movie in it

His name is Wheelie... He made his debute in the animated movie when he encounter Grimlock and then decided to tag along. I guess if they could get used to Grim's odd caveman language then Wheelie might be slightly less annoying...  :blink:... maybe.  :banghead:

- CrimsonQuill

Edit: Oops, misread what you typed UE... sorry. Yeah, Wheelie doesn't make an appearance in the movie and probably never will make it into the this new franchise if they are smart about it... but one of the '80s movie characters does appear in the game (Arcee as a motorcycle).

[the_ultimate_evil]

yeah i know his name i heard a rumor he has a small part in the live action film

[Mr. Hamrick]

Wheelie doesn't not make an appearance in the movie

[the_ultimate_evil]

thank god, i know i have no right to moan when my fav show brought us orko lol


[spoiler] i heard he makes a cameo during a scene in the credits, as starscream has an extra scene[/spoiler]

[The Pwime]

Wheelie doesn't not make an appearance in the movie

ah...so there is a god.  :lol: